Mexican Agony

What a terrible way to lose. Mexico made a tactical mistake to play defensive too early in the game. The Dos Santos substitution surprised me. With over 30 minutes left in the game, Mexico decided to pack it in and try to hold on. Sometimes this strategy can work - particularly if your strength is stingy defense like a traditional Italian team - but for Mexico it was a mistake in this game. They were equal to the Dutch, but played like they thought they were slightly inferior. I thought both teams offense was stronger than the other teams defense and looked dangerous. Mexico was playing them straight up, scored first, and decided to change their tactics. This allowed the Dutch to possess more, got Mexico tired, and allowed the Dutch many more opportunities. Ochoa made a brilliant (or lucky) save, Mexico's defense was disorganized on the Sneijder goal, but the finish was awesome. Maybe the penalty kick was a weak call, but Robbin was dominating that Mexican defender all game, so something like that was likely to happen. Then again, if they held on for five more minutes, we aren't having this 20/20 hindsight discussion.

The Dutchman's penalty kick celebration was my favorite goal celebration of the tournament.

I'm very sad to see Mexico out of the tournament. They were certainly one of my favorite teams. They are flawed, but I love their crew of attacking players.